They say, "Behind every cloud, there is a silver lining".
Well, let me tell you about my day yesterday (Wednesday). Actually, this starts awhile back. I live on the side of a hill here in Arkansas. My yard(s) are all sloping, some more than others. It's rough on a lawnmower, to say the least. That and the fact that rocks actually "grow" here. I have been living here for over 20 years and over this period of time, I have thrown rock after rock out of my yard, but let me start mowing and, KAWHANG, I'll still be hitting rocks. They must've sprouted up during the night. So, my old mower had bit the dust, but I tried reviving it with various welding, bolting, and other irregular methods (I am quite mechanically challenged). But, a couple of weeks ago, the motor heaved it's final breath and was no more. R.I.P. KGro riding mower, it's mowing that big lawn in the sky, no more rocks no more hills just green plush pastures.
A friend had an old Wizard (anyone remember Western Auto?) that his nephew had gone through and fixed everything on, and he had bought a new ZTR mower and didn't need the Wizard anymore. He sold it to me for $350, delivered it, and even had bought $70 worth of belts to go with it. And, it's a big ol' 18 horsepower as opposed to my old 14. HELL OF A DEAL! This was on Monday evening so Tuesday I got out there and gleefully zoomed around on it, until the jungle was turned back into a yard. With a tear in my eye and a smile on my lips, I slept that night with dreams of what all I would accomplish with this wonderful machine. So, Wednesday, I went over to my dads to pick up a little trailer that pulls behind a riding mower. He never used it and said I could have it. We aired up the one flat tire, loaded it on to his pickup truck and took it to my house. Now, it's getting into the afternoon and hotter than Hell, but I'm in the mood for some yardwork. I hooked my newly acquired trailer up, grabbed my shears and went to trimming everything that was hanging out or down too much (and there was a lot). I was dirty and sweaty and in utter bliss at the way my yard was turning out. I loaded a load of clippings into the trailer, hopped on the Wizard, and pulled it around to my side yard to my burn pit (this is Arkansas, we can burn things). Left the Wizard running with the emergency brake pulled, hopped off and grabbed a big armful of limbs and brush and threw them on the pit. Hopped back on my grass cutting, trailer pulling steed, and was off for the second of many loads. Loaded up a second time, pulled around to the pit, left it running, put on the emergency brake, hopped off and was grabbing that armful when IT HAPPENED, in the blink of an eye.
Seems the vibration of the engine was just a bit too much for the catch on the brake. The brake turned loose and the Wizard began to pull away from me. I tried to hop on it, but it made a turn that threw me off, scraping my knee and almost hitting my head on one of the big rocks surrounding the pit. The mower, with a mind of it's own took off down my yard pulling the hapless trailer behind. I watched it go over the edge of my yard and down the embankment and heard the crunch of it hitting the ditch by the road. I ran over and looked and, lo and behold, there it was still running, it and the trailer in a V shape in the ditch (which is the only thing that kept it from going across the road into my neighbor's yard). So, I went down and turned it off, assessed the situation, went back and got my van and a chain. Hooked things up and pulled it across the road into my neighbors drive. Unhooked it and tried starting the mower and it wouldn't start. Checked the gas and, sure enough, it had taken the last drink just as I had shut it down. I pushed it over to the side of the drive, took my van back home, got in my car, and went to the station to fill up my gas can. Got back to the Wizard, filled it up, turned the key and with a little choking and sputtering, it roared back to life. Cool Beans! I said to myself as there was no one else around to hear me. By this time my shirt and pants are soaked with sweat and grime, my knee is hurting where I scraped it, and my eyes are burning from the sweat. Did I mention that it was hot out there? But things are looking good. I take my car home, walk back down to the Wizard with my trusty dog Sadie coming along, get on the Wizard, fire it up, do a U-turn to the left, and go to straighten it up for the journey home, but it keeps going left. Checked things out and the steering rod is bent. Walk home get my car and tools, go back to see what I could do, figure out that it's too hot and more than I'm ready to attempt at this time, drive on down to my neighbor's (it's a long driveway) and explain the situation (they're cool about it all) and go home to a shower and kick back, worrying about my Wizard and how I can fix it.
Now for the silver lining part of this whole story. Just for the heck of it, I stepped on the scales and, due to the blood sweat and tears of the day, I had dropped 4 pounds from my morning weigh in. SCORE!!!!
Have a nice day! I'm going to go work on my mower and do some cussing!
Well, let me tell you about my day yesterday (Wednesday). Actually, this starts awhile back. I live on the side of a hill here in Arkansas. My yard(s) are all sloping, some more than others. It's rough on a lawnmower, to say the least. That and the fact that rocks actually "grow" here. I have been living here for over 20 years and over this period of time, I have thrown rock after rock out of my yard, but let me start mowing and, KAWHANG, I'll still be hitting rocks. They must've sprouted up during the night. So, my old mower had bit the dust, but I tried reviving it with various welding, bolting, and other irregular methods (I am quite mechanically challenged). But, a couple of weeks ago, the motor heaved it's final breath and was no more. R.I.P. KGro riding mower, it's mowing that big lawn in the sky, no more rocks no more hills just green plush pastures.
A friend had an old Wizard (anyone remember Western Auto?) that his nephew had gone through and fixed everything on, and he had bought a new ZTR mower and didn't need the Wizard anymore. He sold it to me for $350, delivered it, and even had bought $70 worth of belts to go with it. And, it's a big ol' 18 horsepower as opposed to my old 14. HELL OF A DEAL! This was on Monday evening so Tuesday I got out there and gleefully zoomed around on it, until the jungle was turned back into a yard. With a tear in my eye and a smile on my lips, I slept that night with dreams of what all I would accomplish with this wonderful machine. So, Wednesday, I went over to my dads to pick up a little trailer that pulls behind a riding mower. He never used it and said I could have it. We aired up the one flat tire, loaded it on to his pickup truck and took it to my house. Now, it's getting into the afternoon and hotter than Hell, but I'm in the mood for some yardwork. I hooked my newly acquired trailer up, grabbed my shears and went to trimming everything that was hanging out or down too much (and there was a lot). I was dirty and sweaty and in utter bliss at the way my yard was turning out. I loaded a load of clippings into the trailer, hopped on the Wizard, and pulled it around to my side yard to my burn pit (this is Arkansas, we can burn things). Left the Wizard running with the emergency brake pulled, hopped off and grabbed a big armful of limbs and brush and threw them on the pit. Hopped back on my grass cutting, trailer pulling steed, and was off for the second of many loads. Loaded up a second time, pulled around to the pit, left it running, put on the emergency brake, hopped off and was grabbing that armful when IT HAPPENED, in the blink of an eye.
Seems the vibration of the engine was just a bit too much for the catch on the brake. The brake turned loose and the Wizard began to pull away from me. I tried to hop on it, but it made a turn that threw me off, scraping my knee and almost hitting my head on one of the big rocks surrounding the pit. The mower, with a mind of it's own took off down my yard pulling the hapless trailer behind. I watched it go over the edge of my yard and down the embankment and heard the crunch of it hitting the ditch by the road. I ran over and looked and, lo and behold, there it was still running, it and the trailer in a V shape in the ditch (which is the only thing that kept it from going across the road into my neighbor's yard). So, I went down and turned it off, assessed the situation, went back and got my van and a chain. Hooked things up and pulled it across the road into my neighbors drive. Unhooked it and tried starting the mower and it wouldn't start. Checked the gas and, sure enough, it had taken the last drink just as I had shut it down. I pushed it over to the side of the drive, took my van back home, got in my car, and went to the station to fill up my gas can. Got back to the Wizard, filled it up, turned the key and with a little choking and sputtering, it roared back to life. Cool Beans! I said to myself as there was no one else around to hear me. By this time my shirt and pants are soaked with sweat and grime, my knee is hurting where I scraped it, and my eyes are burning from the sweat. Did I mention that it was hot out there? But things are looking good. I take my car home, walk back down to the Wizard with my trusty dog Sadie coming along, get on the Wizard, fire it up, do a U-turn to the left, and go to straighten it up for the journey home, but it keeps going left. Checked things out and the steering rod is bent. Walk home get my car and tools, go back to see what I could do, figure out that it's too hot and more than I'm ready to attempt at this time, drive on down to my neighbor's (it's a long driveway) and explain the situation (they're cool about it all) and go home to a shower and kick back, worrying about my Wizard and how I can fix it.
Now for the silver lining part of this whole story. Just for the heck of it, I stepped on the scales and, due to the blood sweat and tears of the day, I had dropped 4 pounds from my morning weigh in. SCORE!!!!
Have a nice day! I'm going to go work on my mower and do some cussing!
You deserve a Writers award for that truly.
